But I know that he cannot!" The loneliness which breathes in words like these has often begotten in great rulers a cynical contempt of men and the judgements of men.

But cynicism found no echo in the large and sympathetic temper of AElfred.

He not only longed for the love of his subjects, but for the remembrance of "generations" to come.

Nor did his inner gloom or anxiety check for an instant his vivid and versatile activity.

To the scholars he gathered round him he seemed the very type of a scholar, snatching every hour he could find to read or listen to books read to him.